Re: [ARSCLIST] Interesting WSJ Article on when libraries should discard their holdings.

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 05/01/07, Tom Fine wrote:
> Sorry but this is an uninformed statement. A company like Google or
> any other halfway responsible for-profit entity has servers mirrored
> and backed up nine ways to Sunday, including information spread all
> over the globe in redundant locations. Likely, the data will live on
> beyond the printed originals barring a nuclear holocaust, in which
> case it really doesn't matter.

On the contrary, that is when it matters most. Think of the importance
of the few (in some cases one only) copies of Greek and Roman books for
the recovery of European civilisation after the Dark Ages.

Hard copy books and 78 rpm records are more likely to survive in a
useful state than digital data.

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx